---
title: How accurate is a woman's memory of her PMS symptoms? | Niyora
description: A woman's memory of symptoms during a specific cycle is fairly accurate, correctly predicting 72% of daily recorded symptom scores, but symptoms vary signific
url: https://niyora.com/research/papers/assessment-of-premenstrual-symptomatology-a-re-evaluation-of-the-predictive-1987/
---

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- How accurate is a woman's memory of her PMS symptoms?

Cohort study, 1987

# How accurate is a woman's memory of her PMS symptoms?

A woman's memory of symptoms during a specific cycle is fairly accurate, correctly predicting 72% of daily recorded symptom scores, but symptoms vary significantly from cycle to cycle, making future predictions less reliable.

 Moderate study design

Women with PMS (unspecified sample size)

## What they did

Compared what women remembered about PMS symptoms to daily symptom records tracked over two menstrual cycles. Symptoms included tension, depression, cognitive problems, and physical symptoms.

## What they found

Women's recall of a specific cycle predicted 72% of that cycle's daily recorded scores. Reports of usual PMS symptoms predicted 21% of the next cycle's scores and 12% of the following cycle's scores. Prospective scores from one cycle predicted only 14% of the next cycle's variance, indicating high inter-cycle variability.

## What it means for you

Women generally remember their PMS symptoms reasonably well for a specific month, but symptoms fluctuate substantially between cycles. Doctors should track at least two cycles before making treatment decisions. The limit is that sample size is not specified.

72%

accuracy of recall for a specific cycle

21%

prediction of next cycle from usual reports

14%

prediction between consecutive cycles

## About the study

Original title Assessment of premenstrual symptomatology: a re-evaluation of the predictive validity of self-report Authors Hart WG, Coleman GJ, Russell JW Journal Journal of psychosomatic research Year 1987 Study design Cohort study What was tested None; observational study Read the paper [doi.org/10.1016/0022-3999(87)90075-4](https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-3999(87)90075-4)

## Topics

[Premenstrual syndrome (PMS)](https://niyora.com/research/topics/condition-pms/)

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